There was lots of excitement in the downstairs hall this morning as children in Foundation Stage, Year One and Two witnessed members of the team go on some amazing journeys!

The assembly started with Mr B showing the children the mysterious wardrobe which was delivered just before the half term break. The children read through some of the magical adventures some of the adults had encountered on the big screen before some of them became over excited and volunteered to once again enter into the wardrobe and see what happened.

First to go through the doors was Miss Holmes, swiftly followed by Mrs Bowden. Both disappeared without a trace to the children’s amazement with Mr B opening the doors to reveal nothing more than an empty cupboard. Mr Geach was a little nervous to once again go inside having previously had to run from a yeti but, with encouragement from the audience, he too ventured into the unknown.

Before long the children realised that Mrs Hewitt was nowhere to be seen and Miss Pezzuolo revealed that she had last been seen investigating the wardrobe earlier that morning. A few moments later a loud tapping could be heard and to everyone’s surprise Mrs Hewitt popped out from inside the cupboard! She revealed that she had been on a long journey and asked Year One to help her identify where she had been. She carried with her a basket of clues which included some twigs, leaves, sweets and breadcrumbs!

Next to pop out of the wardrobe was Miss Holmes. To her delight she revealed that she had once again been to a land full of sweets and had brought some back to show the children!

Mrs Bowden almost burst through the doors a few seconds later draped in the Union flag! She explained that she had been on a fantastic day out and showed the children a postcard of the houses of parliament and a red double decker bus as a clue to where she had been. Foundation stage guessed that she had visited London and she explained that she had taken lots of photographs on her camera which she would share when back in class.

A loud thump could be heard from the wardrobe before Mr Geach came out chattering his teeth! He carried with him a rucksack of clues as to where he had been and was dressed top to toe in warm clothes. He asked the children in Year Two for their help in investigating where he could have possibly travelled to back in class.

All the excitement was much too much for Mr B and so, with much encouragement from the children, he decided he too would travel into the wardrobe and see where it took him. Mrs Bowden shut the door behind him as the children wished him good luck. To everybody’s amazement in a matter of seconds Mr B bounced through the doors dressed in shorts, t-shirt, straw hat and sunglasses! He explained that he had been to a tropical destination, enjoyed an ice-cream or two and even swam away from a hungry shark! He explained that, although for the children it seemed as though he had been gone from school for less than twenty seconds, in reality he had been gone for a whole day at least, such were the magical powers of the wardrobe!

The children decided that they too would make their own magical wardrobes back in class and also investigate where each adult had been!

At lunchtime the children enjoyed the new ‘Winter Warmer’ menu. Mrs Hardy and her merry cooks had created a delicious dessert to accompany the main course, complete with strawberry flavoured custard!

The children in Year Six spent the whole day focusing on developing their design and technology skills! They designed a shelter for Michael from ‘Kensuke’s Kingdom’ before making a prototype of it with art straws. They used the saw to cut measured pieces of wood before securing them together by carefully using the glue gun. Later they began to enhance their shelters by making canvasses out of natural materials such as leaves.

At the end of the day, rather than venturing into the wardrobe once again, the teachers updated their anaphylaxis training. Each adult updated their knowledge of how to safely use a variety of epipens. It was a busy and varied first day back after the half term break!